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the tenryou commission has negotiated with shinobu so much that she doesn’t even need to say anything to them when she sees them anymore.
every time she goes to see them, she is reminded of yanfei-xiaojie (“xiaojie? there’s no need! we’re friends, no? just call me yanfei!”), and the way she talked so smoothly when faced with any legal conundrum. the way her voice, high and sweet, suddenly became just a bit deeper, and her eyes locked with the person she was talking to. and how after she finished her confrontation, the way she simply smiled at shinobu, and called her “ah-shinobu” — like nothing had happened.
(shinobu is never able to conceal the way her lips tremble when she speaks like that. some of her excuses are veiled in half-truths, and she’s never been too good at lying.
she’s glad that she wears a mask.)
the tenryou commission officer she sees today is a rather familiar face. he just sighs when he sees her — “you’ve already come up with an elaborate case for arataki-san, haven’t you? i believe you, whatever it is, so i’ll take you to see him.”
shinobu tries her best not to let out a sigh of relief. these people don’t get to see her at her weakest.
she follows the tenryou officer down a familiar hallway lined with jail cells. when she sees a familiar pair of horns, she feels her shoulders drop some —
seeing his figure always makes her feel kind of relaxed, like she’s home.
she doesn’t tell him that, though.
not yet, anyway.
the tenryou commission officer opens the cell, and shinobu brings a finger to her lips. don’t say anything. itto seems to get the message, and stays quiet.
the pair tensely walk out of the tenryou commission.
only when the doors shut behind them does itto speak.
“shinobu-chan!” he grins, and wraps his arm around her shoulder.
for some reason, this makes her face go hot.
(she thinks she’s mad. she has to be mad. he got thrown into jail again. so she’s mad. right?)
“how many times does this make?”
“eh?”
“how many times have i saved your sorry ass?”
“ouch—! uh, hehe.” he doesn’t stop smiling. “i’ve lost count…?”
she sighs, a bit exasperated. this wasn’t really how she was planning on spending today.
“whatever. have you eaten today?”
“nope, and i’m starving!”
“let’s get food then?”
“oh, sweet!! i’m fresh outta mora, hahah!”
of course he is.
well, what’s new.
she smiles under her mask. “sure. then it’s on me.”
“ah, shinobu-chan! welcome.”
she chose kiminami restaurant. as much as she loves itto, she’s not willing to spend the mora to give him a three-course meal. “hello, kiminami-san.”
shinobu smiles under her mask — she does this all the time to people she likes. the tengu of the tenryou commission. kiminami-san. yanfei. itto. she never gets comments like “you should smile more”, because she never shows her mouth. conversely, the people she loves never get to see how happy she is when she’s together with them.
she wonders sometimes if it really should stay that way.
she has to keep her mask on, though — if a shrine maiden were to see her and recognize her, it could be trouble. so she takes her mask off sparingly.
kiminami-san hands them the menu, and shinobu realizes a bit late that she will have to take her mask off to eat. she doesn’t actually take her mask off all that often, even around the gang, who she trusts more than anyone. taking it off in front of itto…
it makes her heart pound.
which is weird. usually she’s a bit apprehensive to take her mask off at all, but getting this nervous is rare for her.
“what the heck is pizza? that sounds great, i wanna try it!”
itto’s boisterous voice removes her from her thoughts, and her heart pounds faster.
“ah… it’s a foreign dish, isn’t it? i remember it being pretty good. i’ll have some too.”
“o-ho! if it’s got shinobu-chan’s seal of approval, i gotta have it!”
shinobu smiles. it makes her feel good, that itto relies on her. that the gang relies on her. that she has a place her skills are valued. that she can be who she wants to be without any expectations. that she can do what she wants, and she’s loved for it.
kiminami-san begins her work, and shinobu realizes itto’s staring at her. she turns to him. “what?”
“ah! i know i shouldn’t be surprised when you’ve studied abroad, but it’s still so cool that you know all this stuff.”
“oh—“ shinobu blushes. she’s lucky she hasn’t taken her mask off yet. she’s not sure what to say.
“i mean, yeah… i don’t think this was a liyue dish, but i remember hearing about it somewhere when i was abroad. yanfei was always pretty adventurous and willing to try new things.”
“and you were too, i see! of course, my numero dos is knowledgeable and adventurous. always willing to get new experiences!”
shinobu’s heart pounds even faster at the flattery. what the hell!!! she takes a deep breath. “i’m glad to be of service.”
kiminami-san serves the pizza at that moment, with a smile and an “order up!”. shinobu takes another deep breath, and takes her mask off. when she looks over at itto, to gauge his reaction, she sees he is so focused on snarfing down the pizza that he isn’t paying attention at all.
she sighs, and picks up the pizza. when she takes the first bite, she decides she likes the pizza here.
she also decides that she shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up, and mentally kicks herself for getting so worked up. she’s not stupid — she knows what this feeling is, and she feels pathetic for it. she watches him as he wolfs down the pizza, and thinks to herself, this is what i’ve fallen in love with? a messy, boisterous, hassle of a man.
but then he notices her staring, and gives her a grin. “this is delicious! shinobu-chan is always right. thanks for the food!”
and she feels strange, as her heart pounds and her chest flows with this bizarre feeling. the strangest part? she kind of likes it…
“band the naku weed into a loop around your waist, and it shall exorcise evil.”
so shinobu had been told growing up.
she’s not a miko anymore, and she doesn’t do exorcisms. she’s not some purifier of ghosts or lingering spirits. no, she is a “jack-of-all-trades”, and she is a member of the arataki gang. the strict life of a miko is far behind her.
despite that, she still collects naku weed. she carries it with her, like a good-luck charm, and stays close to those she treasures. because in all the time she’s been learning medicine and law and gastronomy, it’s still the quickest way she knows how to help others. whenever others are in danger, she manipulates electro and collects all of the naku weed she has on her, entirely willing to bring up painful past memories of being a miko if it means that she can protect those she loves. she surrounds the people important to her in naku weed, and watches them become stronger.
even if she leaves the fight a bit more tired than she did at the beginning, it matters little to her. if anything, the exhaustion motivates her further, to protect those she wishes to with all she has.
so when she’s spending today together with itto collecting beetles, she doesn’t mind using the spare naku weed to help him fight some of the ronin they encounter along the way. his claymore and the way he kicks it around is always amusing to her, anyway.
at the end of the fight, he hugs her, though, and she’s not sure what to do.
(she feels her heart healing once more. for every naku weed she surrounded itto with, she feels her energy draining — for every second itto holds her in his embrace, she feels it recovering.
it’s a jarring, happy feeling.
she tries her best not to hug him back.)
she finds it amusing; the way itto tends to differentiate whenever he introduces people to her. when he introduces shinobu to the illustrious traveler, for example, she is shinobu-san, like she’s suddenly a higher rank than him — or at least, higher than the traveler.
which is a hilarious thought. shinobu heard stories of the traveler while she was in liyue, and witnessed the fight with osial from afar. she watched the traveler team up with the adepti, and itto still calls her shinobu-san in front of the traveler, as if they have to refer to her with respect.
in truth, she doesn’t care. when the traveler later starts calling her just “shinobu”, she replies kindly by referring to them by their name.
when they’re alone, he’s back to calling her “shinobu-chan”. as if he can call her whatever she likes. anyone else, however? they have to treat her with respect. and she finds that she actually prefers this.
members of her family often called her “shinobu-chan”. and initially, being called that filled her with the sick, suffocating feeling of being in the kuki house. it made her stomach churn, but she didn’t have the energy to correct itto after he forgot to drop the “chan” after the fifth time. eventually, she went to liyue, and yanfei called her the equivalent of “shinobu-chan”. and after awhile, the nickname stopped reminding her of her old home as part of the kuki family.
rather, it reminded her of her new home — the arataki gang.
and suddenly, when itto came to see her all the way in liyue, shouting “shinobu-chan!!!!”, it made her laugh, and she hugged him back this time.
the feeling of their arms around each other was a comforting one; like an unbreakable chain, like a promise of protection. and while shinobu hardly needed protecting, she felt her heart pound lightly — like gently rippling water, a quiet excitement.
today, shinobu and the traveler spent a day at the great narukami shrine.
when she went back to the gang that day, she felt exhausted — far more exhausted than any amount of naku weed could make her on its own. not to say that the traveler exhausts her; she finds that they are actually quite lovely company, gentle and kind. but her mind is covered in fallen sakura petals that cloud her judgment, that make her fall silent when faced with any conundrum. she simply doesn’t have the energy to deal with anything today.
she once heard that sakura petals are actually white. when a corpse is buried at the root of a sakura tree, the tree absorbs the blood and dyes its petals in the color, creating a gentle baby pink. she wonders if it’s her blood, sweat and tears that are dyeing the sakura trees at the shrine pink. and she wonders if the sakura petals she shakes out of her wild ponytail are a deeper pink than she remembers them being — she didn’t bleed any today, but the wounds to her heart at the painful memories feel close enough.
“it’s shinobu-chan!!”
the gang cheers upon her return, and she sighs. their love isn’t quite enough to heal her right now, and everyone else senses that. their camp suddenly quiets down, and makes space for her, like she’s some high-ranking government official whose mere presence commands power — like you just have to back away and make room for them to walk, like you just have to drop everything in order for them to just step where you were standing. she’s not very happy about this, honestly; she’d prefer the hugs and the “shinobu-neesan!”s and the offerings of roasted lavender melon that she usually gets when she returns. today, she instead gets itto himself coming to meet her alone, the only one willing to face her in this stiff crowd.
itto’s taken an odd job again, it looks like. ah, that’s right — it’s the fourth day. after three days of not working, he works for one day in order to scrape together some mora to make ends meet. where he’s waiting for her, he immediately sees her exhausted state.
“ah, shit— shinobu-chan? you good?!”
“yeah, boss.” her voice comes out breathy, it surprises her.
“oh, hell no.” he catches her bluff incredibly easily, which doesn’t surprise her in the slightest.
shinobu is suddenly lifted by her thighs and resting on someone’s back. itto is carrying her—
ah… she forgot how strong he was. she finds herself completely unable to resist, and surprisingly, unwilling to resist.
she sinks herself into the warmth of the oni’s back, closing her eyes as he carries her away.
when she wakes up, she’s sweating.
ugh, it’s hot. she opens her eyes and recognizes a familiar tattoo on familiar skin. no complicated irezumi, but still a tattoo, and still a sign of criminal, gang activity. (she has one too.)
and then she blinks.
and then she realizes.
and then she socks itto in the stomach,
and then he suddenly cries out in pain.
“good gods, shinobu-chan!! what the hell!!” he clutches his stomach, a look of disbelief on his face. she realizes that by socking him in the stomach, she totally just woke him up.
“what the hell?! that’s what i’d like to say!!”
“what!!! you were exhausted yesterday and i took you to a hotel room i spent three days’ savings on!! all of it!!”
he… what?
she sits up. and then she realizes that itto’s arms were around her, because he has to let go of her in order for her to sit up at all.
she looks back at him with a violent turn of her head. “were you cuddling with me last night?!”
“uh, so-“
she socks him in the stomach again, and he yelps in pain. it’s kind of funny, honestly. she decides she won’t do it again until he dies some other weird, terrible thing.
“so, what?”
“are you—!!” he clenches his fist. “are you even gonna listen!!!!! i feel like!!!!!! you’re going to punch me!!!!!!! when i say this!!!!!!!!!”
shinobu takes a deep breath. “alright, boss, i’m listening. i promise not to punch you.”
“you swear?!?!”
“i swear.”
itto stares at her, one eyebrow raised, eyes wide. then he seems to make up his mind, and says, “you were the one cuddling with me.”
…it takes all of shinobu’s effort not to punch him.
“there is no way.”
“oh, but there is!” itto suddenly has confidence; he grins at her, toothy and boyish. “in fact, i picked you up yesterday, but i totally thought you were gonna kick me. or punch me. or otherwise injure me. you know. but then you didn’t! and i was really surprised and happy and it was great!”
she blinks. she decides she won’t beat him up, but she’s still in disbelief.
she knows how she feels, and she knows what she says about itto will always contradict that. she knows that.
she knows that in her dreams, she sees his horns and his hair and his stupid face and his sunshine smile. she knows that.
and she replays the time he fell into her arms over and over, and how his body was warm — and he was heavy, but the weight was comforting — and she wishes she could be closer to him all the time. she knows that.
she kind of can’t believe that she actually did it subconsciously.
“oi, shinobu-chan?”
she realizes something else as itto continues to speak.
“you okay? you’re all red… you got a fever?”
she doesn’t have her mask on.
a day in the arataki gang is a day of never-ending trouble.
shinobu gets akira out of trouble and beats him senseless, hoping that maybe this time, he’ll learn his lesson. and every time, he gets up regardless, calling her “shinobu-neesan”, bowing his head and promising it’ll never happen again.
and then promptly launches himself back into trouble.
the worst part? itto’s got so much of a heart, that he’ll forgive akira immediately, even when akira’s done nothing warranting forgiveness. but what boss says goes.
…most of the time, at least.
sometimes even the deputy leader’s word comes ahead of itto’s. but most of the time, itto doesn’t even give them a slap on the wrist — he just gives a hearty laugh, and says he understands why they’re afraid of shinobu.
huh? huh?! she feels like she wants to punch something.
she sighs — she feels much closer to itto than that. using her fists to speak for her has never affected him, and she’s always been happy about that. does it actually scare him, too? that breaks her heart more than she cares to admit. especially since that night they spent at the hotel together.
…thinking about it like that makes even someone like shinobu blush. but nothing like that even ended up happening. instead, itto just got stupid worried about her health, thinking her profuse blush when she realized she had been cuddling with him in her sleep had been signs of a fever. he immediately told her to lay in bed and not move, and went out to buy medicine.
considering he said he had spent every last of his mora on the hotel room she slept in, it was a miracle that he actually managed to come back with medicine. she was too tired to question it in the moment, but looking back on it, she wonders with irritation if he caused some trouble in order to get it. she’ll have to ask him about it later.
she wants to give him the benefit of the doubt. but also, she knows he would move mountains for her, and would do anything if it meant his deputy leader would be in good health. the thought makes her smile. but also makes her a bit irritated. she’s undertaken keeping the arataki gang in line, and this feeling of annoyance is familiar to her, like an old friend.
in any case, yesterday was spent in a hotel room she slept in all day. she wasn’t sick, but the day off was surprisingly refreshing for her, and she can face the day with renewed vigor.
she punches, kicks, and beats her way through the day, making up for yesterday’s trouble.
and sighs — she wishes they would learn their lesson and get it together, for once.
and finally, she wishes itto wouldn’t be so oblivious.
she sighs. maybe he’ll get it someday.